settimo

Forms

settimo (feminine settima, masculine plural settimi, feminine plural settime)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian setimo, Old Italian septimo and Old Italian sectemo, the last from Rome.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin septimus (“seventh”), the ordinal of septem (“seven”) (sette).^[5][6][1][7] The French ordinal septième is an analogical new formation, and Spanish séptimo is a learned word;^[5][8] Old French had sedme.^[5][8]

The Latin ordinal goes back to Proto-Italic *septmo- and Proto-Indo-European *septmós (“seventh”), from *septḿ (“seven”).^[9][1] It is cognate with Old Church Slavonic седмъ (sedmŭ, “seventh”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Miracole de Roma, from Rome, in the middle of the 13th century, with the sense “seventh in a series”.^[2] GRADIT dates the old form setimo to before 1264, Zingarelli gives 1268, and DELI cites Bono Giamboni's Vizi e virtù (before 1292).^[3][10][11] A 13th-century Pisan text in the GDLI has Lo setimo pesso “the seventh plot”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for one of seven equal parts, and the ora settima was the hour after midday.^[2] In the liturgy il settimo was the Mass said on the seventh day after a death, a sense still current.^[2][13] Funeral customs gave the Latin word special senses elsewhere too: in Valsassina setim is a distribution of salt and bread to every family of the village after a death, and in the Vaud a funeral meal.^[8]

Dante speaks of la settima zavorra, the seventh pit of Hell.^[14] The noun for a seventh part as a fraction is dated to 1873 in Tommaseo–Bellini.^[11] The phrase al settimo cielo “in seventh heaven” alludes to the seven heavens of the Ptolemaic system.^[6]

Timeline

• Mid-13th century – The Miracole de Roma use the word.^[2]
• Before 1264 – The old form setimo is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses it in Vizi e virtù.^[11]
• 14th century – The feminine noun settima is recorded.^[5]
• 18th century – Settimino is recorded.^[5]
• 1873 – Tommaseo–Bellini records the noun for a seventh part.^[11]
• 1915 – Settimo clemente is recorded for a papal coin.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. seventh: coming after six others in a series (7th, VII): il settimo capitolo.^[3][6][10]
2. After the name of a ruler or pope, written in Roman numerals: Gregorio VII.^[3][6]
3. Being one of seven equal parts: la settima parte.^[3][6][15]

Noun

1. A seventh, one of seven equal parts of a whole: due settimi.^[3][10][16]
2. The seventh person or thing in a series.^[6][10][15]
3. (liturgy) The seventh day after a burial, or the Mass said on it.^[13][2]

Word family

• settima
• settimino

Related words

• sette
• Latin septimus

Usage notes

Essere al settimo cielo means to be overjoyed.^[6][10] Settimo was also the name of a silver coin struck in Rome under Pope Clement VII, worth a seventh of the papal gold ducat, also called settimo clemente.^[16][17][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 824
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
17. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 825